Thread by @Wilson__Valdez

So I finally got around to reading the Yashar piece (not even going to do a 'Y*shar' since the last time I tried that, he found/screenshotted it in less than 10 min) & my recommendation is, if you were hesitating, definitely read it. It's really good. lamag.com/mag-features/y…

I thought of Yashar as some sort of irritating, rich fail-son, who was a massive celebrity clout chaser that would just shamelessly seek attention (much of which was just blatant bait like, 'omg anyone who likes avocado is just wrong.' & 'The Beatles are so basic. Don't @ me.')

(And btw I believed he was the rich, fail-son of some wealthy Iranian family, because he led everyone to believe that. In reality, his parents both work(ed) at the Univ. of Illinois, which tbh is much cooler but I guess didn't fit the 'image' he was going for.)

Now after reading the piece, it's pretty clear that he's less of a benign clout chaser & much more malevolent. Part that fake German socialite Anna Sorokan, part Shaun King & a dash of Glenn Greenwald. He appears to be a serial manipulator, fraud and kind of a fabulist.

Rather than a wealthy trust-fund 'socialite', he seems to be a broke guy who doesn't have a real job or any income but just uses his connections to emotionally manipulate people out of money.

And again...

Just keeping a normal excel spreadsheet of all my celebrity friends, including their personal contacts, that I will produce at a moments notice to prove how important I am.

He squatted in Kathy Griffin's house until Joan Walsh helped her work up the courage to kick him out lol

Real Shaun King vibes.

A lot of his 'reporting' has clear conflicts (b/c he has no editor) and seems to be thinly veiled 'defend my friends/go after my enemies'. Never trust someone, much less a journalist, who thinks they've "never gotten anything wrong.

Also, he's extremely vindictive, to the point where people didn't want to go on the record with their thoughts on him (which was how GG was treated by most, up until a couple years ago).

Extremely weirdly, no one can actually recall how they became friends with him?

I'll just end it with this. Nothing else to add but LOL.